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This strange desire to forget Barça’s rivals

BarcelonaI miss Pep Guardiola’s press conferences at Barça a little. It’s been years, it’s true. But you can hang the label Guardiola’s widow off my back that someone made up. No problem. Guardiola talked about everything, but when he could, he spent minutes and minutes analyzing the rivals. It was noticeable that he prepared the matches. What should have been commendable ended up becoming a mockery, with more than one making fun of the coach because he was analyzing the game of Jito, the striker of Cultural Leonesa in the preview of a Cup game.

The humor is superb. A humorless society has a serious problem. In fact, I am one of those who believe that we can joke about everything, if it is done correctly and intelligently. Also Guardiola, Xavi and whoever, of course. But it was symptomatic that many people joked when they heard Guardiola analyze the rivals. Test two problems. A very serious one: the desire to ridicule those who work hard. And a second one, very typical of big football teams: the rival is not interesting. At Barça, as it happens at Madrid or Juve, it is your players who win the games. They are also the ones who lose. Most people are not interested in the rival. And if you’re interested, hang any of these tags that have been created recently to make fun of those who love the game, want to analyze it, and think that Isi Palazón is a good player.

Yes, rivals play. And analyzing the frustrating draw on the first day without talking about Rayo Vallecano is a mistake. We need to talk about Xavi, whether he made a mistake and the players. Of the tactic and the excess of euphoria. Of the sides and if the squad is still limping. But any analysis without mentioning that Rayo played a good game would be a mistake. A team with a low budget, with some casualties and with footballers who have played few times in stadiums like the Camp Nou knew how to understand the game. Andoni Iraola proved to be a great coach and some footballers excelled, such as midfielder Pathé Ciss.

I have never understood this drive to turn any rival into a group of friends. Of not giving importance to their game or highlighting only the bad things, as if they defend a lot. Only if you respect your rivals can you end up appreciating how much it costs to win a title. In fact, the more you respect your opponents the happier you end up if the season ends with a cup in your hands. This weekend, we’ll be back. More than one will ignore Real Sociedad, one of the most well-worked projects in the League. Luckily, Xavi Hernández won’t. Football is still a two-team thing.

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